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February 23, 2020

The public will have an opportunity to share their vision for an African Landing Memorial during a week-long listening tour hosted by the Fort Monroe Authority.

Beginning Monday, Florida-based visual artist and sculptor Brian R. Owens will travel through northern Virginia and Hampton Roads with the National Park Service, the 400 Years of African-American History Commission and others to gather input and design ideas.

February 19, 2020

As part of the Savannah Black Heritage Festival, the Obsidian Dance Repertory is prepping a performance entitled "The Year of Return." It’s a concert that will symbolize, through dance, the first enslaved person arriving in Jamestown, Virginia, 400 years ago. "The Year of Return" is a powerful display of art by Savannah State University’s pre-professional dance company, led by director Toni Renee Johnson.

February 17, 2020

Two guests stopped by the East Texas Now desk on Monday to talk to host Kayla Lyons about the upcoming Black History Month Knowledge Bowl. According to a press release, the one-day event will feature middle and high school students in a quiz show-style competition. They will answer questions that cover more than 400 years of black history. The event will also feature team T-shirt and attendance competitions.

Events that still influence our national conscience are intersecting; in 1920, the 19th Amendment granted women the right to vote. And February is, of course, Black History Month, which has caused widespread analysis of the shared goals of equal rights for women and African-Americans throughout the 19th and early 20th Century.

Even well into the 21st century, black women in the United States must grapple with persistent medical racism and the ongoing health disparities that result from systemic discrimination. This is especially true for black mothers, whose maternal mortality rate remains a staggering three-and-a-half times higher than that of their white counterparts.

February 16, 2020

The issue of race relations has wreaked havoc on the American psyche since slavery was introduced to the United States 400 years ago. Not surprisingly, the people most likely to understand this divide have always been the people most directly affected by it - African Americans and other people of color. But a report last year by the Pew Research Center demonstrates that the disconnect between how we perceive racial injustice falls almost as much along political lines as it does along racial ones.

From the moment of capture, through the treacherous middle passage, after the final sale and throughout life in North America, the experience of enslaved Africans who first arrived at Jamestown, Virginia, some 400 years ago, was characterized by loss, terror, and abuse.

February 14, 2020

The docuseries commemorates the arrival of the first enslaved Africans to Virginia in 1619. Students from Hampton University, Norfolk State University, Virginia State and Virginia Union University diligently collaborated to create the docuseries. After an intensive and eye-opening experience of traveling throughout Virginia to historic sites in Jamestown, Port Comfort, Richmond, Charlottesville and South Hampton; the students were encouraged to document their journey and to explore the lives of the first Africans arrival to the U.S.

From the moment of capture, through the treacherous middle passage, after the final sale and throughout life in North America, the experience of enslaved Africans who first arrived at Jamestown, Virginia, some 400 years ago, was characterized by loss, terror and abuse.

During Black History Month, 19 News is delving into a difficult history with our series "400 Years: The Vestiges of Slavery in Cleveland.” We are looking into the achievement gap and how education for African-American students can be improved.

February 11, 2020

In August 2019, The New York Times Magazine released a special issue called The 1619 Project. Published on the 400th anniversary of the first arrival of Africans on American soil, The 1619 Project is a historical analysis of how slavery shaped American political, social, and economic institutions.

Four hundred years after a ship with enslaved Africans arrived on the shores of what became America, one of the places having a conversation about this complex anniversary is right here in Jacksonville, at Kingsley Plantation — site of the oldest standing plantation house in the state and the remains of 25 tabby slave cabins.

February 7, 2020

In this episode of Who Belongs?, a podcast by UC Berkeley’s Othering and Belonging Institute, Berkeley professors Denise Herd and Waldo Martin discuss 400 Years of Resistance to Slavery and Injustice, a yearlong initiative that marks the 400th anniversary of the forced arrival of enslaved Africans in the English colonies.

Only 8 percent of high school seniors can identify slavery as a central cause of the Civil War, according to a recent Southern Poverty Law Center survey. The average American has grown up believing a slew of myths about the institution. As scholars of slavery and its aftermath, we’ve identified a few of the many misconceptions we have encountered in the classroom and in public spaces over the years.

The National Park Service is honoring Black History Month with an inspiring new short film. Titled ‘Twenty & Odd, the video developed by a group of NPS staff and interns explores the trauma, resilience, and beauty of the African-American experience in America.

This year’s Black History Month is much more than 29 days devoted to recognizing Black Americans’ history, culture, and contributions to the United States. It is part of a broader reflection and commemoration of one of the darkest events in our United States history – the 400th anniversary of the inhumane and involuntary arrival of the first enslaved Africans to the British colonies.